


not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves

by astele



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/F, Femslash February, Just gals being pals, goldstrange, huntress of artemis au, just a little bit nsfw at the end there
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-03
Updated: 2019-02-03
Packaged: 2019-10-21 07:46:22
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,849
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17638697
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/astele/pseuds/astele
Summary: Leta runs away from her life to begin a new one.She wasn't expecting to find what she did.





	not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves

When Leta Lestrange was a teenage girl, she decided. She would run, run away from her family and legacy, run away from a world that hated her, and would go get lost somewhere where nobody would know her name and she could rebuild herself from scratch.

And so, she did.

With a small backpack full of necessary supplies and the practical men’s clothes on her back, Leta slipped out of that household for the very last time and did not look back. The first stage of her grand escape was to get out of the sight of anyone who could possibly recognise her and stay away from any area where anybody would think to look. With that in mind, she made a yet another decision that was solely about her, and off she slipped into the first patch of wilderness she could find.

Things were fine at first. However, Leta soon found that she might have underestimated this survival living thing when her food supplies began to dip lower. Yet she remained determined. Each night she would carefully ration out what she would allow herself to eat the next day, bundled in a warm jacket she had stolen from one of her fathers’ servants. Each morning, she would wake with the sun, stretch, and simply lay out in the leaflitter and grass and simply enjoy the lack of anyone yelling for her or the busyness of the world. Later in the day she would pack up her things and simply wander. Leta wasn’t sure what she was looking for, if anything at all. But the freedom itself was something new and exciting and she couldn’t really find too much to be overly bothered about.

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The day her life changed had been warmer than usual, the bright sun beating down on her. The sound of running water had caught her attention. She was well aware that leaf litter clung to her hair and dirt was smudged across her hands and arms and cheeks and so she decided that this was an opportunity best not missed.

A break in the thicker scrub and undergrowth revealed a stream which ran into a deeper pond, illuminated by the sun and sparkling invitingly. Appreciation is the reason that Leta first missed that she was not alone, however that did not last when a gentle hum broke her rapture.

A woman -a gorgeous woman, she thought dazedly- was submerged in the waters to her shoulders, a wore a faintly amused expression across her dark features. Dark hair was cropped at the nape of her neck, and closer inspection showed that an array of scars littered her arms, back and to some degree, her face. While her first instinct was to back away and deliver a warning, Leta instead found herself tripping over her words for a moment, leaving her spluttering. The other woman’s amusement only grew.

“There’s enough room here for two,” came a teasing opening, followed by a flick of water in Leta’s general direction. “I promise I don’t bite.”

Leta only watched with slightly narrowed eyes. “I don’t tend to undress in front of strange women.”

This drew an actual laugh from the other, as though there was some inside joke that Leta wasn’t getting. “Artemis. And you are…?”

Familiarity tugged at the corner of Leta’s mind. Instead of addressing it, she felt her shoulders relax at the lack of aggression so far. “Leta. Leta L- Actually, just Leta. Why are you out alone in the middle of nowhere?”

The other woman simply raised a brow. “Why are you out alone in the middle of nowhere? Let me guess: a runaway?”

“I…guess.” She admitted, before drawing her shoulders back and giving the other a challenging look. “Are you intending on turning me in?”

“No. I assume that if you’ve run away, you have reason to do so. What are you going to do from here?” Artemis tilted her head, considering.

Leta stopped for a moment. It was unusual for someone else to validate anything she thought, and though the woman may be rather snarky, she found herself slowly warming up to her.

“I don’t have a plan. I just know I can’t go back to the place where I came from.” She replied quietly.

There was a moment of silence between them, before the women turned to step out of the water, reaching for a bundle of clothing that Leta had missed earlier. Leta found herself blushing and adverting her eyes, however the other woman seemed unbothered as she shook herself dry and began redressing.

“You could come with me,” Artemis finally spoke. “I live with other girls, some like you. We’re sisters, and friends, and family and sometimes more. You don’t have to of course – but I think you could use company like us, and we could always use someone like you.”

Leta hesitated. “And what is it exactly you all do?”

When Artemis turned, she flashed a smile with was far more teeth than anything else. “Why, we hunt monsters. I’m sure you can think of some examples.”

Her mind instantly went to her father, to her dead mother, to her stepmother, a momentarily to herself. But could she truly be a monster if she dedicated herself to hunting other monsters? Leta was willing to find out.

The hesitation had finally left when she met the other woman’s eyes and simply said, “I’ll do it.”

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It shouldn’t have surprised Leta that Artemis was in fact some kind of deity. By the time she realised, she couldn’t really say she was that surprised, nor concerned. The huntresses had accepted her with open arms, eager to share and to learn and for the first time, Leta had truly felt accepted.

And so, she stayed on. She spent day after day training with the others, and when time permitted, Artemis herself. When she found her feet and hands hardened and her reflexes quickened, she soon found herself teaching others as well. When she wasn’t fighting, she found herself braiding the hair of the others, singing softly, and trading stories. All in all, life was good.

The first time she went hunting with Artemis was surreal. They often hunted the wildlife when food supplies ran low, however there was a distinct difference between that and an actual Hunt. An actual hunt would find Leta and her sisters tracking men who followed girls down darkened alleyways, appearing behind men who raised their fists against women and children and standing against those who wished to cause harm to those they deemed beneath them. And that truly was where Leta excelled.

Years continued to go by, and she grew into a confident, emboldened young woman who often found herself planning at their leaders’ side. Most importantly, she was happy and fulfilled and needed nothing in her life. That is until the day she saw the girl.

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The first time Leta had met the girl, she had been crying alone amongst the treeline, hidden against a large trunk. Instantly concerned, she had approached, eyes scanning for the offender. The other had startled instantly, before blushing in embarrassment and ducking her head, before murmuring something about parents and loss and loneliness.

Sympathy had caused Leta to perch on the ground next to her, and carefully reach out, offering and hand for comfort and support. The other woman had blushed even darker but had taken the hand while dipping her eyes to the ground. Leta had managed to draw a name out of the shyer girl – Tina.

Tina. Leta found she liked the way that the name the rolled off her tongue, much like she had strangely liked the way the other woman had gone such a lovely pink colour.

Artemis laughed and laughed when Leta shared this interesting information with her, and only smirked when Leta had pushed for answers.

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The second time they met, Leta swore that the woman had to have been looking for her. Certainly, she had never seen the dark-haired girl wandering the forest paths before, eyes searching as though she had lost something.

This time they spend hours sitting together, talking. Leta tells her that she works around here -vaguely answering any other queries- and speaks about her different sisters with such affection that draws a smile out of Tina. Tina talks about her own life and what her parents had been like, and how recently she had celebrated Rosh Chodesh with her sister and how they had stayed home and prayed together and how Tina had been so proud of how far her little sister had come. They laughed together and teased each other and Leta could only wonder at how easy it all felt.

When Tina admitted that she should probably go home soon, Leta smiled over the sinking feeling in her stomach. She isn’t expecting it when Tina hesitantly leans closer to her, before gently pressing her lips against her own. Her heart is pounding when the other girl pulls away apologising profusely and instead of replying she pulls her back into another one.

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They continue like this, conversations peppered with shy glances and soft kisses.

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Leta isn’t sure what pushes her to this point, but one day a soft kiss isn’t enough, and she draws it out, revelling in the little sigh that parts Tina’s lips and allows her to trace her bottom lip with her tongue.

It doesn’t take much for Leta to straddle the other woman, suddenly giddy at the feeling of the other beneath her. Warmth flutters in her stomach as she gently kisses down the others throat, drawing her hands up her thighs, emboldened by the pants and barely smothered gasps of the woman.

Her hands rest between Tina’s hips when she leans into her, lips brushing her ear and she asks huskily, “Is this okay?”

The resounding yes followed by the upwards buck of Tina’s hips is enough to encourage to teasingly sink lower, circling two fingers across wet skin. At a whine from Tina she presses her lips against the other woman’s navel, before slipping the same two fingers inside of the dark-haired girl.

One hand clamps firmly against Leta’s shoulder as she pressed against the other girl with a steady rhythm, watching with hooded eyes as she pressed more kisses against Tina’s stomach. It doesn’t take long for the other to come undone in a flustered mess, crying out and legs tensing from where they had wrapped around the huntress.

For a while they both lay in pleased silence, Tina catching her breath while Leta absentmindedly drew one hand across her lips.

Neither of them is particularly not pleased though when Tina surges upwards, determination in her eyes as she reaches for Leta.

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To the surprise of no one, it does not take long for Tina and younger sister, Queenie, to join the huntresses. Artemis does not even blink at the request, however she does teasingly shake her head at Leta while sighing about young love.

Leta likes the new additions to her daily routine, and Tina is more than happy to help.

**Author's Note:**

> day 3 done! i love writing some good ol goldstrange, and trying to branch out a little bit more into some nsfw material.


End file.
